Recent television reports showing massive destruction caused by a tornado in America shocked people around the world. The footage was impressive: smashed cars, ruined buildings, and trees uprooted and dragged hundreds of meters.

But those images are nothing compared to what foreign military attaches saw on a testing range at the foot of the Urals, when several months ago, the Russian military staged a demonstration of its own tornado, the volley-fire system "Smerch," (which means "tornado") and the system "Grad" (hail). The weapons left nothing but scorched earth and black craters over an area of several thousand square meters.

The history of Russia's volley-fire systems dates back to the Second World War. The legendary Katyusha - Russia's first volley-fire system, dreaded by the Nazis - contributed greatly to the Soviet victory.

Almost immediately after the war, the Soviet government issued a special resolution setting up a research institute in the city of Tula to exclusively develop this kind of weapon. In 1992, the Institute was renamed the Splav State Research and Development Enterprise, and it has become Russia's leading developer of volley-fire systems. The Tula plant's best-known products include the Grad, Uragan and Smerch, used by the Russian and many foreign armies. Grad has been exported to 30 different countries, and 11 countries now produce the system themselves - although only four have purchased the necessary licenses.

Grad is a third generation volley-fire system. A team led by Aleksandr Ganichev, a Hero of Socialist Labor and winner of several state prizes, designed it in 1963.

Grad comprises a 40-barrel 122mm missile launcher mounted onto a Ural-375 cross-country truck. It can hit targets within a range of 5 to 20.4 kilometers.

Over the years, Grad has undergone various modifications and improvements. Modified versions include a light-weight, 12-barrel version for airborne troops, a portable, single-barrel version and the 36-barrel Grad-1.

The 1970s and 1980s brought further improvements, including a version equipped with remote detonators (three in one shell), screening shells and dazzling shells. The latest version of the Grad has an effective range of up to 40 kilometers. "Even a 15 to 20 percent increase in effective range is regarded as an achievement," says Splav Chief designer Nikolai Makarovets. "We've managed to double the effective range while preserving the system's high precision quality." This was achieved largely through improvements to the jet unit and aerodynamic characteristics of the missiles. The modernized Grad is serviced by only two men, and deployment time has been reduced by 50 to 70 percent compared to earlier models. The modernized Grad missiles can be used with earlier models. A volley of 40 missiles covers an area of 600 square meters.

Several thousand Grad launchers have been exported. Although 35 years have passed since Grad first appeared, it has kept up with changing technology, and continues to perform just as well as foreign volley-fire installations of the same caliber (120 mm).

In 1974, the Splav designers developed yet another volley-fire installation, "Uragan" (hurricane), with enhanced characteristics including a 16-barrel 220mm system. Uragan is designed to hit personnel and non-armored equipment and place remote detonators inside the enemy's defenses. The Uragan unguided missile weighs 280 kilograms, including a 90 kilogram high-explosive or fission fragment warhead, cassette, remote detonator, and incendiary or space-charge. The warhead normally contains 30 fragmentation components and 24 anti-tank charges or 312 anti-personnel mines. It takes 20 seconds to launch an Uragan volley effectively hitting targets within a range of 9 to 35 kilometers and covering an area of 426,000 square meters.

But Russia's top volley-fire system is the 300mm Smerch. Russian and foreign experts agree that Smerch outperforms all similar technology currently available on the world market, including the American MLRS system, which the U.S. armed forces adopted in 1981 and used recently in Iraq.

Smerch comprises:

 A battle vehicle equipped with 12 missile launching barrels.

 A loading and transportation vehicle with a crane and loading unit.

 Combined fission-fragment and high-explosive warheads.

 Cassettes with supplementary fragmentation warheads.

 Cassettes with self-aiming high-efficiency warheads.

Guided missiles give Smerch 70 percent less divergence than installations using unguided missiles and increase precision twofold. In 38 seconds, Smerch can fire a full-scale volley hitting targets within a range of 20 to 70 kilometers. Splav designers are currently working on a Smerch model with an increased effective range of 90 kilometers. In terms of destructive force, range, precision and grouping, Smerch beats all competition. At a demonstration in Abu-Dhabi, 63 out of 64 missiles launched by Smerch hit their designated targets. And the volley was fired from an unprepared site.

In one volley, Smerch launches 12 missiles weighing 800 kilograms each and effectively destroys targets over an area of more than 67 hectares. One Smerch volley can destroy a mechanized infantry company. Three Smerch installations can destroy a whole tank company.

Splav is currently working on a fourth generation volley-fire system. This will be a self-contained modular system including a vehicle and smart missiles capable of finding and hitting designated targets with precision.

Military experts say that volley-fire systems already handle up to 40 percent of combat missions assigned to artillery and tactical missiles in modern warfare, and their role is set to increase. Conventional artillery, such as howitzers and cannons, is normally used for selective fire at small-sized targets, while volley-fire systems are indispensable for dealing sudden and massive strikes on clusters of enemy troops and ammunition.

Conventional artillery and volley-fire systems complement one another and form the core of Russia's artillery.